20 Ways to Raise a Healthier Child

America's fight against childhood obesity starts with parents. The best tips for transforming your kids from fat to fit

Oct 15, 2007

The unhealthiest generation needs our help. More than 9 million overweight children in the United States are at risk for depression, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Not to mention heart disease and stroke as adults. Meanwhile, gym classes are fading. Less than one in 10 schools meets federal exercise requirements.

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We can change this. The Men's Health FitSchools Initiative has started by supplying Gettys Middle School, in Easley, South Carolina, with the information and fitness equipment needed to overhaul their physical education program, and save their 1,300 students.

You can help by using our simple fit plan. It works for both children and adults. So your whole family will look and feel better -- and your children will learn health and fitness lessons that last a lifetime.

Make Fitness a Top Priority

Many kids face the same workout saboteur as adults: Fitness is an afterthought. But creating a detailed fitness plan works for both adults and teens. When Ohio State University researchers helped high-school students plan to work out, 80 percent of the kids who had previously spent no time exercising outside of school became physically active in their free time. Merely committing change to paper can make it real. It's like a declaration of independence from fat. Sign on.

Set Aside 5 Minutes on Sunday

Jot down when you'll train this week, and include the exercises that will help you hit your goals for each session. For instance, you might aim to strengthen your upper body on Monday -- use pushups and pullups, or rows and bench presses. Train your lower body with squats and running on Wednesday or Thursday. Then plan an active outing for the weekend. Multiply by 52 weeks, and it'll be a whole new health equation for you in 2008.

Bulk up the Specifics

As your exercise plan takes hold, include more details, such as sets and reps. Do the same for your kids. Script every minute, from water breaks to instruction time, says Brian Grasso, president of the International Youth Conditioning Association and FitSchools faculty member. It won't appear regimented to the kids, he says, but the structure is a stress reliever for adults. Plus, setting mileposts along the way makes it easier to reach the finish line.

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Assemble an All-Star Team

Draft supportive teammates. "To stick with exercise long term, you need social support and you need to have fun," says Jim Liston, C.S.C.S., FitSchools faculty member. Band with friends to get in shape for a 10-K or a hut trip in the Rockies. For kids, start and end play with high-fives or a cheer. And encourage camaraderie by acknowledging each person's participation.

Schedule a Fitness Date

Sign up for tennis class, dance or yoga with your spouse. Children with active dads are 3 1/2 times more likely to exercise than those with inactive dads. But when both mom and dad are active, kids are a whopping 6 times more likely to exercise, according to a 2006 report published in the Journal of Sports Medicine.

Upgrade Your Health -- Every Day

Nobody shapes kids' lives more than their families, says David Jack, life and sport director of Teamworks Centers, and FitSchools faculty member. A powerful way to lead is by making healthy choices every day. Think of it as 365 childhood obesity interventions in a year. If just 10 percent of the men reading this magazine follow through on this one step, that's more than a million interventions, which is more powerful than any change an organization can inspire. If you're making healthy changes in your own life, and in the lives of the kids around you, let us know on our FitSchools blog. Good examples need to be shared, so they spread.

Fake Your Way to a Good Sweat

Want to stay fit for life? Find activities you truly enjoy, and display your enthusiasm after a good workout. Not feeling it? Pretend. "We want to show kids that fitness is fun," says Jack. "Nothing motivates kids more than a fun challenge and a fired-up leader." When exercise was fun or playful, 83 percent of overweight, obese, and severely obese children did it consistently, report U.K. researchers. Kids who took part in 10 weeks of sports and games viewed exercise more positively and were more likely to engage in fitness activities again.

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Kickstart Their Confidence

Overweight kids who are taunted are two to three times more likely to contemplate or attempt suicide, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota. But perhaps what's most disturbing is that parents and siblings -- not just school bullies -- frequently tease overweight kids; 32 percent of them experience verbal abuse. Even as their psyches are being wounded, so are their bodies. "The more social and emotional problems kids have at school, the less likely they are to become involved in activities and sports," says social psychologist Robert Crosnoe, Ph.D., of the University of Texas at Austin.

Make Exercise a Reward, Not a Punishment

If you've ever watched "fat-to-fit" reality shows, you've witnessed running and pushups performed as punishment. "It's absurd," says Liston. "If you punish kids with exercise, how can they ever love it?" Likewise, if the only time you exercise is the Monday after a dissolute weekend, then you will associate exercise with painful payback. Remember, exercise is something you and your kids should do for fun. Your dog wags his tail before a walk; build that sense of anticipation into activities you pursue and suggest to your kids.

Take Charge

Kindergarten students gain more weight when they're not in school, according to research in the American Journal of Public Health. In the study, body mass index (BMI) rose twice as fast when kids were on summer vacation than when they were in school. So whether it's Thanksgiving break or just a long weekend, parents can help children stay fit by standing in for their gym teacher. You'll all exercise more.

Make Your Gym Portable

Ever try to keep up with a 3-year-old? It's interval training at its most challenging. That's why a playground can be a perfect training ground. Jack suggests beginning with racing up the slide and sliding down. Do this five times. Then push your little guy on the swing as an "active rest" period. Next, do as many chinups as you can at the bars, or climb ropes together. Then knock out a few sets of pushups with your hands or feet on a beam or slide. If he's young and light enough, have him sit on your back while you do pushups. Finish by jumping onto the benches and racing around the playground.

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Serve Smoothies

Exercise can be its own reward -- it activates brain reward pathways that act like antidepressants. But kids may need a little added encouragement. "Remember what it was like to win a trophy or go out for ice cream as a kid? It really meant something," says Jack. Integrate rewards into your active weekend when you think the kids need a boost. They'll associate that tough bike ride with the delicious fruit smoothies you serve afterward.

Lead Games

Feed kids fresh ideas to teach them fitness fundamentals, says Grasso. But this isn't spring training. Just improvise and have fun.Day 1: All you need is a ball and a little creativity. Throw a football, catch a baseball, kick a soccer ball, or whack a tennis ball against a wall. Use old tires for targets, as you might see in a football skills competition. Even a game of catch has social and physical effects. The benefit: Develops agility and hand-eye coordination.

Day 2: Jump, lunge, and skip to various markers around the house. Or collect a group of objects, such as medicine balls, basketballs, and tennis balls, and toss them for height or distance. The benefit: Builds strength and flexibility.

Day 3: Run wild. Organize relay races with neighborhood kids and their parents; create obstacle courses using cones or trash cans. Tow your kids on wheeled toys or in sleds when it snows. Then try the wheelbarrow race with them or set up a course that alternates sprints and crawling around on all fours. The benefit: Boosts speed; teaches kids to apply and resist force.

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Join a Film, Music, or Book Club

Developing skills and interests can boost self-image, says Crosnoe. And that impacts more than just your health. According to Crosnoe's new study in Sociology of Education, obese girls are typically half as likely to go to college as normal-weight girls, but their chances of attending are nearly equal if they engage in more activities.

Build the Ultimate Home Gym

Children are 38 percent less likely to loaf when exercise tools are available at home, report Australian researchers. But that doesn't mean your house has to be a jungle gym: Just make sure toys are visible and kids are allowed to move freely. You'll play more, too.

Ban Teasing and Cruel Nicknames

Extra pounds can invite name-calling and bullying, according to a British study. Greet kids using their proper names to show respect, Liston says. Encourage them, and let them know it's okay to make mistakes. If they finish last in a race, remind them that they can be proud they competed.

Cut the Tube Time

Keep in mind, as well, that TV is the enemy of activity: Kids are twice as likely not to get enough exercise if the tube roots them in place for more than 2 hours a day. You limit your children's exposure to poisons and firearms, don't you? So limit exposure to this dangerous box, as well.

Provide Alternatives

"One of the biggest problems in youth fitness today is applying an adult-based exercise prescription to children," says Grasso. Out with the bench presses, in with dodgeball and tag. The heart-pumping benefits of games are good in their own right, but their effects can last a lifetime. To Grasso, they're activities that involve higher brain functions, such as strategy and team building, so they stimulate the central nervous system. In kids, the brain and nerves are most adaptable just before they reach adolescence, he says, so preteens are more likely to retain a skill they learn then -- and practice it for a lifetime. Teach a 10-year-old to play tennis, and he may still be doing it at 30 and beyond.

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Guide, Don't Push

What's your child interested in? Watch him in his free time, and suggest new forms of active behavior, says Jack. In a study of fifth and sixth graders, University of Missouri researchers found that the frequency of parental encouragement is the second most important factor in determining whether or not boys exercise. Enjoyment of activity ranked first. So after he climbs a tree, high-five him; then take him to a rock-climbing gym. Is he destructive? Maybe he'd like mixed martial arts.

Think Outside the Gym

Kids want to go, go, go. The gym can feel like a prison, for you and especially for them. "It doesn't have to be regimented and confined to be daily activity," says Grasso. Gardening or driving to a local farm and picking berries, for instance, are active learning experiences. Plot your Sunday-afternoon bike ride on a map, and build in extensions and diversions for the trip. That it goes by the town pool won't hurt, either.

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